Readers discuss hot Jupiters, Earth’s inner core oddities and more

Turning tides

Gravitational interactions with nearby planets and stars can hurl giant exoplanets into orbits that bring them close to their suns, Ken Croswell reported in “Hot Jupiters may be kicked into place” (SN: 3/12/22, p. 13).

Croswell wrote that a hot Jupiter gets put on a highly elliptical and inclined orbit that brings the planet close to its star.